The EMR Pasta post EMS activity is an excellent tool to assess student
understanding of the distortions contained within models in general, and the
electromagnetic spectrum in particular. Students construct their own version
of the electromagnetic spectrum using a variety of pasta shapes, and then
present their models and provide an explanation of how their pasta
analogy/model does and does not represent the electromagnetic spectrum.

The Frequency and Wavelength demonstration included with the EMR Pasta activity uses a pasta machine. This demonstration will help students
understand that electromagnetic radiation is all the same thing. Only the
shape is different. It is a common misconception that since we can see the
visible spectrum, and hear parts of the radio spectrum, and get sunburned by
part of the UV spectrum that the different bands are not really related to
each other.

This activity requires the students to gather information and construct
presentations.